ALEXANDRIA, Va.-Favorite for the open NCUA Board position that Yolanda Wheat will be vacating when someone else is appointed, Iowa state Senator JoAnn Johnson mailed out all the final paperwork for the background check for her nomination on Friday. "I am a long way from the official nomination, but it's one step further in the process," Johnson said. She already went through the interview process with the White House Office of Personnel. "It would certainly be an honor to serve in the administration," she said. Though not part of the process, Johnson has already met with NCUA Acting Chairman Dennis Dollar, whom she called "a very fine individual." Johnson has spent seven years in the Iowa state Senate chairing the Ways and Means Committee for four years and is currently chairing the Commerce Committee. As such she has handled several tax, banking and finance issues, she said. Johnson is the daughter-in-law of former NCUA Executive Director Don Johnson, who served under former NCUA Chairman Roger Jepsen.